I am sure you are misquoting me on this. I certainly never said that Trump’s supporters are all cold hearted individuals. This is simply not true, and I am not sure why you said that I said this. Can you tell me where you found that quote? If you can, I will publish an apology immediately. Where in the Bible does it tell us that the temple was punished for harboring criminals and protecting them from justice? I am sure there is no Scripture which says this. In fact, if you read Leviticus, you will see that God provided cities of refuge in the Promised Land for those who were being pursued for accidentally killing people. God is more into protecting the innocent and the persecuted than seeing them arrested.
Then you go on, not to a biblical topic, but a political topic, which is whether we, as Christians, should support the state harboring rapists and other criminals. Again, this is a political question, but I, for one, definitely support arresting such criminals, and, if they are here illegally, deporting them. Of course I support this. It is worth noting that all studies of crime rates have shown that immigrants to this country, including those who came here illegally, commit violent crime at a significantly lower rate than those born here, so why some chose to demonize immigrants generally is something to be challenged by believers. However, the rare exceptions should be dealt with as the law demands, and, after due process (something which has been ignored with impunity recently), those who commit such crimes ought to be deported in my opinion.
It seems to me, but perhaps I am wrong, that you have created me as a sort of “straw man,” implying that I believe in things that I certainly do not believe in. I believe in Christians supporting the law, except in the very rare case when the law tells us to do something which violates our consciences as Christains. I do not support people breaking the law, but you seem to imply that I do. Why would you do that? Perhaps I am misunderstanding
Jesus did tell people to stop sinning, or course, but he never asked the police to arrest and deport anyone. He left legal matters to those responsible for such things. I cannot imagine Jesus doing such a thing. He showed compassion, not a spirit of vengeance (but he also followed the laws, of course!). In fact, on several occasions, Jesus praised immigrants (the Canaanite woman, the centurion), and compared them favorably to native Jewish people.
Immigration policy is a political matter, and we, as Christians, do not have to agree with the political decisions of those who are in government, as we are fairly likely to disagree with their political decisions, but we also need to support the laws of the land, whether we agree or not. This is the clear teaching of Romans 13.
But… as Christians, we are to love the immigrant, whether he or she is legal or not. We are to respect them, treat them kindly and with fairness. This is the biblical mandate. Please consider Exodus 22:21 “You shall not wrong a foreigner or oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.” and Exodus 23:9 “You shall not oppress a foreigner, since you yourselves know the feelings of a foreigner, for you also were foreigners in the land of Egypt.” as two of many passages on this topic. There are many times more passages in the Bible on caring for the foreigner than there are passages about following the laws of the land, although both are biblical, Christian teachings.
John Oakes
